Oct. 12, 1986, In Reykjavik, Iceland: The Day That The World Changed

President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, with an interpreter in between, make their farewells outside Hofdi House after their fourth and... View Enlarged Image

On the evening of Oct. 12, 1986, the Reykjavik Summit appeared to have ended in failure for President Reagan. Two days of talks between him and Mikhail Gorbachev over the reduction of their nations' vast missile arsenals had resulted in Reagan walking out at the last minute.

The issue? Gorbachev wouldn't agree to any agreement unless the U.S. ceased its research on the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Reagan said no.

The meeting adjourned, and both leaders, with their staffs, walked out into the cold Iceland rain.

As historian Richard Reeves recounts in his biography, "President Reagan: Triumph of Imagination," on the trip home aboard Air Force One, Charles Wick, director of the United States Information Service, approached the president and said, "Ronnie, you just won the Cold War."

"I hope you're right," Reagan replied.

Twenty-four years later we have the comfort of knowing that Wick was right. But what had just happened at Reykjavik certainly didn't look like victory at the time.

Reagan walked away from a deal that would have seen a drastic reduction in intermediate and intercontinental missiles on the American and Soviet sides of the Iron Curtain, with the principle objective of eliminating all ballistic missiles within 10 years.

For Reagan, and several of his top aides, the real dilemma was the threat of nuclear Armageddon. That's where SDI came in.

Top Defense

If the U.S. had the ability to create a nuclear shield, it would eventually eliminate the need for nuclear weapons. Reagan believed in SDI and had made a promise to the American people to pursue it unequivocally.

But Gorbachev was in a bind. He knew what SDI meant for the Soviet Union. Nuclear weapons were more than military weapons; they were diplomatic tools.

Their presence put the Soviet Union and America on something of a level playing field. Render them useless, and the Soviet Union had little to bargain with.

Also, Gorbachev and his aides knew that the Soviet Union could never hope to match the level of funding and research required to turn SDI into a reality. Keeping pace with America was already stressing the Soviets' budget to the breaking point. Trying to match SDI could deliver the fatal blow.

So Reagan stood his ground, despite objections from some of his staff who still believed in the idea of detente. History has since proved which side was correct.

Little more than a year later, the U.S. and Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, eliminating all nuclear and conventional intermediate-range missiles.

See Also

Can we be honest about illegal immigration, a challenge common to almost every advanced Western country that is adjacent to poorer nations? American employers and ethnic activists have long colluded to weaken border enforcement and render immigration law meaningless. The former wanted greater ...

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson traveled to Independence, Mo., to sign legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid in the presence of fellow Democrat and former President Harry Truman, who during his presidency led unsuccessful efforts to establish a national health insurance system. The ...

What an economically deranged debate we have going on in the race for the Democratic nomination for president. In one corner is an unapologetic socialist, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who wants to raise individual income tax rates on the rich to 70% or more — apparently because it worked so ...

Ninety-five percent of black voters in 2008 voted for then-Sen. Barack Obama. Surely a "progressive" black president would care about, empathize with and understand black America in a way no other president ever has or could, right? Exit polls from Pew Research show that 63% of all voters — ...

Senate Democrats have declared that they will filibuster Republican appropriation bills passed to implement the congressional budget adopted by the House and the Senate. The Washington Post has labeled the effort "filibuster summer." And President Obama has pledged to veto any appropriation bills ...

About Investor's Business Daily

Investor’s Business Daily provides exclusive stock lists, investing data, stock market research, education and the latest financial and business news to help investors make more money in the stock market. All of IBD’s products and features are based on the CAN SLIM® Investing System developed by IBD’s Founder William J. O’Neil, who identified the seven common characteristics that winning stocks display before making huge price gains. Each letter of CAN SLIM represents one of those traits.

Select market data is provided by Interactive Data Corp. Real Time Services. Price and Volume data is delayed 20 minutes unless otherwise noted, is believed accurate but is not warranted or guaranteed by Interactive Data Corp. Real Time Services and is subject to Interactive Data Corp. Real Time Services terms. All times are Eastern United States. *Reflects real-time index prices.